Volvo Ocean Race - Playing the Doldrums lottery
by Agathe Armand on 23 Oct 2014
Leg 1 onboard Team SCA. Sillhouette at sunset. Corinna Halloran / Team SCA
A day and a night of uncertainty - later, the Doldrums will come to an end for the Volvo Ocean Race teams. By tomorrow morning, the fleet should be sailing safely in the southeasterly trade winds.
So – who won this equatorial lottery? What was the best place to cross this convergence zone, where two hemispheres and two weather systems collide?
'People like to say west is best and maybe there is something to it,' admits Bouwe Bekking in a message sent from the Brunel boat.
The skipper plays it down, but he knows west was best this time around. His team is now in second position, just behind Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.
The two boats went all the way to the west of the fleet to sail across the Doldrums, and they made the best gains. They barely stopped, and came out of the light wind band some 90 nautical miles ahead of their closest competitors.
'Believing in your game plan is crucial in this race,' adds Bouwe. 'It sometimes hurts terribly when you make huge initial losses, but maybe having done this race a couple of times before has taught you when to relax a bit about it.'
'When we left the coast of Mauritania, my navigator Andrew Cape and myself were confident that we wanted to be the most western boat in the fleet.'
'And here we are, in a pretty nice spot compared to the rest of the fleet.'
The only thing annoying the Dutchman is the seven-mile lead Abu Dhabi has managed to get over them. Only because the Emirati boat tacked two minutes after them at some point during their Doldrums duel, and took the lead.
That’s what this patch of water is all about. Going for the good long-term strategy, but also making the right tack, the right gybe, picking the right cloud.
'You know, our decision to cross east was taken before the Cape Verde Islands,' explains Team Vestas Wind’s navigator, Wouter Verbraak.
The Danish boat sailed the extreme opposite route to Abu Dhabi and Brunel, yet came out of the Doldrums in third position.
But according to Wouter, it wasn’t that extreme. 'We aren't very far east,' he says. 'We are in the west, and where we entered is a very normal point. I think our Doldrums crossing wasn't risky at all; I'd rather say that Abu Dhabi and Brunel were risk takers, going that far west.'
'We saw a tropical storm developing with good wind ahead of us, and light spots too. We went further east to avoid these calms, and managed to get the new wind from the east first. If you see a gate, if you play the right element, then I don't see that as a high risk.'
Whether their strategy was reckless or not, the Vestas guys picked a good lottery ticket.
'We’ve certainly had luck, and some good scheds yesterday evening and all through the night. We knew there were going to be some tough times in the beginning. There were moments of doubt when we lost 20 miles per position report, but we knew that things would improve for us. It's very pleasing to see that we've had that luck.'
Then there are the ones who didn’t win a great prize in the Doldrums raffle.
'What’s disappointing is that we entered the Doldrums 20 miles to windward of Dongfeng,' mutters Nico Lunven, Mapfre’s navigator. 'Today they had some wind, which we didn’t have. This is life.'
The middle option didn’t work out for the Spanish boat, now in sixth place behind Dongfeng, fourth, and Team Alvimedica, fifth, and ahead of Team SCA, 110 miles behind the leader.
But beware. The riskier area is behind, but the fleet isn’t out of the convergence zone yet. The route to the Fernando de Noronha waypoint isn't free of hazards.
All seven boats have seen the wind drop to nothing, sails flapping, sun burning down. It could be the same case again.
Alvimedica’s Charlie Enright said it best two days ago, as he entered the Doldrums for the very first time.
'I expect something I’ve never seen before. Full of surprises and very difficult. Ready for Volvo Ocean Race
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